Wine bottles have long been provided with capsules or secondary closures forming a decorative closure or covering for the open neck of the bottle. The neck of the wine bottle is of course sealed by a cork. Thus, the capsule does not actually serve as a closure except to prevent exposure of a portion of the cork.
However, based on longstanding tradition, the capsule is considered an important part of the wine bottle, especially in providing a decorative closure. Thus, at least for premium wines, the capsule and label are considered important decorative elements of the bottle.
Originally, capsules for wine bottles were formed from lead which was generally desirable because of its ductility and malleability, permitting the capsule to be readily formed on the wine bottle and to accept suitable decoration. The pure lead capsules were eventually replaced by capsules formed from a combination of lead and tin. However, the lead-tin capsules had generally similar characteristics as the lead capsules. These characteristics which are summarized below have become traditionally accepted and it is believed important to maintain these characteristics, particularly for premium wines as noted above.
Both the traditional lead and lead-tin capsules had a soft, lustrous appearance because of their metal composition. In addition, both types of capsules had characteristics of flexibility and ductility enabling them to be readily formed as secondary closures on wine bottles.
Characteristics of the capsule during its removal from the wine bottle are of equal importance, at least in conveying the same "feel" as the traditional lead and lead-tin capsules. In this regard, it has become common practice to either cut and/or tear the capsule in order to expose the open end of the bottle neck for permitting removal of the cork. Accordingly, it is also believed necessary to maintain the characteristics of cuttability and tearability similar to the traditional lead and lead-tin capsules.
Recently, there has been a movement to eliminate lead as a packaging component for environmental reasons. In connection with wine bottles, the use of lead may be environmentally objectionable both because of its possible contact with a beverage contemplated for human consumption and, of possibly greater importance, to avoid disposal problems for lead components, for example, in landfill and the like.
It has thus become desirable to avoid the use of lead in wine bottle capsules. More recently, capsules have been formed from tin since it is a generally flexible and ductile metal having generally similar characteristics as those discussed above for the traditional lead and lead-tin capsules. Tin has also been a logical choice as a substitute for lead because of its similar metallic characteristics permitting flat blanks to be subjected to relatively deep drawing techniques for forming the capsule. However, since the sources of tin are relatively limited and remote, the market for tin is relatively volatile. Accordingly, problems may develop in the use of tin because of unavailability and/or cost.
Capsules for wine bottles have also been formed from laminates of plastics and metal foils. However, because of the different processing characteristics for these laminates compared with metals such as lead or lead-tin, wine bottle capsules have been manufactured by different techniques when using the laminates. The most common configuration is the simple formation of a cylinder from the laminate with one end being crimped to form an annular flange upon which a cover is joined or cemented in order to form the same capsule-like closure for wine bottles. These capsules have generally experienced less acceptance in the market particularly because they differ from the traditional appearance and characteristics of the standard lead and lead-tin capsules. In particular, with the cylinder being formed from a flat sheet of laminate, the capsule has a visible side seam. In addition, the crimping of the closed end of the cylinder and cementing of a cover thereon also provides an obvious difference from the traditional capsules.
Thus, there remains a need for wine bottle capsules capable of overcoming problems of the type noted above while exhibiting similar characteristics as the traditional wine bottle capsules.